Towards a General Function Describing T Cell Proliferation

Rob J. DeBoer and Alan S. Perelson

Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute

Abstract: We propose a new function for describing the rate of T cell proliferation in response to peptides on antigen presenting cells. The model improves an earlier model of ours by allowing for a true maximum proliferation rate of the T cells. This is achieved by a simple change of variables that markedly relaxes the conditions for a conventional quasi-steady state assumption.

Our new model has the same ``ecological'' properties as our previous one. Thus the natural competition in the model allows for regulation of T cell population size in the presence of continuous stimulation by antigen. An important feature is the competitive exclusion of T cell clones recognizing the same peptide with different affinities allowing for ``affinity selection.''

We also develop models for the population dynamics of experienced, naive, and activated T cells. These T cell sub-populations compete with one another for antigen. In models with lymphokine production we obtain a ``proliferation threshold'' that allows for tolerance.

Date: 1994-11
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:safiwp:94-11-061

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Krichel ().